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Against crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, Norway's national church issued a formal apology for discrimination and harm perpetrated over the years.

“The church in Norway has brought the LGBTQ+ community harm, suffering and humiliation,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, the church leader, announced during a Thursday event. “This should never have happened and which is the reason I apologise today.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” led to some to lose their faith, the bishop admitted. A church service at Oslo Cathedral was planned to take place after his statement.

The apology occurred at the London Pub, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 attack that killed two people and left nine seriously injured at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to at least 30 years behind bars for the murders.

Similar to numerous global faiths, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is Norway’s largest faith community – had long marginalised the LGBTQ+ community, refusing to allow them from joining the clergy or to have church weddings. In the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples in 1993 and by 2009 the initial Nordic nation to legalize same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

In 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church commenced the ordination of gay pastors, and LGBTQ+ partners could marry in church since 2017. Last year, Tveit participated in the Oslo Pride event in what was described as a first for the church.

The apology on Thursday was met with varied responses. The leader of an organization representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a difficult period within the church's past”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “strong and important” but was delivered “too late for those who lost their lives to AIDS … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the crisis as divine punishment”.

Internationally, a few churches have tried to reconcile for their actions regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, the Anglican Church said sorry for what it characterized as “shameful” actions, even as it still declines to allow same-sex marriages in church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church located in Ireland in the past year apologised for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and family members, but held fast in the view that matrimony must only constitute a union between a man and a woman.

Earlier this year, Canada's United Church issued an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, labeling it a renewed commitment of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have not succeeded to celebrate and delight in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, remarked. “We have hurt individuals instead of seeking wholeness. We express our regret.”